Friday, December 31, 2010

Hello again world. Forgive me my disappearance. It's that season when the planet turns upside down and everything is a little crazy. Anywho... I've got news!

I was just approved for my first ever credit card! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

In the past my credit has been less than stellar. This is not because of debt however. Instead, I have what TransUnion and Equifax call a Thin File. I've lived in the same place most my life, I didn't have a bank account for a long time, etc. Not much to go on for credit scoring. Well, for the past year and a half, I've been working on fixing that. I've got the best Punky in the world, and an awesome brat. Someday, I may want to buy them a house, or a car or something. I don't know... I've never really been one for the traditional american dream, but perspective changes when you're raising a kid.

So. I've got a bank account. I've been keeping it clean, no overdrafts or crazy fees, and it's been that way for coming on two years. I've been monitoring my credit report, making sure there's nothing wrong on there and that stuff is coming off when it's supposed to. Then last night I called Dell. The computer place. They have an awesome laptop I want. It costs just a little over two grand though, and I've only got about half that to my name. On the flip side, they have this awesome payment plan for people who have their Dell Preferred Account. My dream rig would only cost seventy dollars a month! That I could totally handle, and then some.

So, I called and asked what sort of credit score I would need in order to be approved for said card. After being told they would get me that info, they ran a credit check anyway. I even warned them about the thin file problem and told them I most likely wouldn't qualify. I didn't. Oh well. I then went back to the place where I monitor my report, and checked it out. Same stuff. Thin File. Etc.

However, they have recommendations for credit cards that are good for building credit, and how low of a score each one will take, etc. Lo and behold, I applied to one of them and was approved!

Sure, it's a secured line, but that's fine by me. All I care about is beefing up my file. I'm not about to go out on some massive spending spree, or begin living outside of my means. One of my resolutions for the next year is to continue improving my credit.

The other is of course, like half the nation, lose some weight. Also something I got an early start on and have been doing well with.

Beyond that, I resolve to blog more. To continue bettering my parenting. And to try and get a handle on my health situation.

Monday, December 20, 2010

As the title impels, tonight or today actually is a very busy day. I didn't do much, or anything at all really, to celebrate Winter Solstice, Monday etc, but tonight, as in about twenty-thirty minutes.. It will be Curry Night! It's the first time Angel's ever made Curry, and I helped, and it smells so amazing. I can't wait to have some. Yum! I update how good it actually is in a little while.

There's a lunar eclipse tonight as well. That'll be awesome. I look forward to watching it tonight, at least some of it, though it's Angel and I, we might forget.

You know, I don't have much to say tonight, but I suppose that's okay.

Oh. Presents! Under the treeeeee for meeeee! Yay! I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

For a while I've been feeling like a bottle with too narrow a neck. I've been absent from the blog because I've simultaneously felt as if I had nothing to say, and too much to say. So.. here I am at a slightly better place now.

Christmas time is upon us. Hurray! Most of our shopping is done, thank god. Presents are wrapped and under the tree. After months and months and possibly even years of discussing Santa and whether or not children should believe in him or how old is too old, Punky finally turned her back on the fat man. It dawned on her that she had saved money, thought about presents, went out for said presents, wrapped them, and he got all the credit. F- That! She boldly proclaimed.

Dieting is going wonderfully well. Punky and I have each lost ten pounds so far. We hope to continue on this road well into the new year.

Speaking of new year... We're going to Dragon*Con! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. My inner Trekkie rejoices. There shall even be cosplay.

Uhmm.... That's about it. Life has been quiet lately. It's a good thing.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Sorry guys! We didn't mean to leave you hanging, but Angel hasn't felt like there was anything to say that was worthy of posting, and I've been terribly ADD. It's sorta been slow here, so there isn't really much to say, but enough I think to make a decent post.

We got more shopping done Tuesday. Another present for the mama, and I found a niffy present for Angel last week, both are wrapped and under the tree. I still have to find him other things, but there'll be time, beside he and I have a agreement this year, that we don't care if presents are late for him and I. It only matters that the brat has everything, and he does. Boy does he. He's going to be trilled.

I've had to re-wrap to for his gifts, because our basement cat won't leave the tree alone. Just today be tore our tree skirt. It was nothing to fancy but it was something. Oh well, I covered it up with presents, and you can't tell. Hopefully though he'll leave it alone. He can't actually like the taste of tree skirt in the morning.

What else.. Oh, last night I killed myself on our desk chair, I went to get up to see who buzzed the door, and slipped. Landed hard on my left ribs. Luckily, they didn't seem broken, just sore and achy and I can't move certain ways, but no bruises yet. It was funny, Angel was asleep, the brat was asleep and I was whimpering and trying not to cry, and only making it worse. Okay, so it wasn't funny in the moment, but now it is.

Annnnd, I think I ran out of topics. So good night for now, and I promise we won't take so long next time.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Just been wandering about the various blogs I follow. It seems like a good time of year for it too, since most are chock full of interesting posts about the season, the weather, and the many holidays that so many faiths and cultures seem to celebrate in the coming month.

Yule logs. What is the word on those? The Deepest Well just posted a plethora of information that was a delight to read. It tempted me ever so horribly to march out and bring one home. Of course, this would be tricky as my Punky is a bit of a tree hugger in the strangest way.

Last night we all sat around the television in the kitchen to watch NBC's Christmas Tree Lighting in Rockefeller Center. No particular artists I liked on the roster, but the music was nice just the same, and I was introduced to a singer I hadn't previously heard of. Charice. Anywho.. throughout the show they're doing little flashbacks, talking about how many years this event has been going on for when it suddenly occurred to Punky that this was a real live tree that they were talking about.

Now personally, I remember being in the city with her either last year or the year before when the tree was up. Not for the actual lighting of course, I don't think many real New Yorkers go to that because of the crowding. But we were there. I know, because she was fascinated by the ice skating at Rockefeller Center. Sadly, she doesn't remember that. She seemed genuinely hurt that a tree had been cut down just for display. At first I thought she was just being funny and a little sarcastic. She loves Christmas Trees! She's had real ones before! I was wrong.

From what I can gather, she's upset because it's such a large tree. A tree that took many years to get so tall. I can't pretend that I see it her way, or even really understand where she's coming from, but I can definitely feel sympathy all the same. I don't have to be standing where she's standing to support her. The show introduced everyone to the family that was sort of donating the tree. The husband/dad was a firefighter from a station in The Bronx who responded to 9/11. He and his family lived in a small but very nice house with some land around it and on it had been this magnificent spruce. The show also went on to mention that when the tree had finished its role as Christmas Tree to NYC that it would be given to Habitat for Humanity to help build homes.

This too I thought was something that would make Punky feel better, but no such luck. She says I just don't understand, and I've already admitted that that is true. So I have no idea how she would feel if I just uprooted a tree in our local park and brought it home to declare it Yule Log time. xP

First things first, I'm going to do more research on Yule in general and on Yule Logs too, to supplement what The Deepest Well posted. Then I'll see how she feels about it all.

Secondly, if we get the fun and privilege of declaring it Yule Log time ... we have no fire place. My initial thinking had been along the lines of doing it symbolically. Maybe a small twig that we would honor and then burn safely in the kitchen. Some of the information in that post though made me think that might be a bad idea. So... what to do? There must be some creative solution, I just haven't thought of it yet.

In other news... Are there faeries in New York? Stay tuned right here at The Fire Escape and find out tomorrow when Miss Candy Corn Ma'am is sure to stop by and drop some knowledge on our blog as she most graciously does whenever we update.

Furthermore. In order to even the playing field of the gods and goddesses I have decided that there should be a Triple Face God. Like the Triple Moon Goddess, he would represent the three stages of a man's life. So far, I have affectionately come up with them as so :

The Dude. The Dad . And The Crotchety Dude. In his first two stages of life, he is much like Crush from Finding Nemo. Awesome and Dude-like. Also... dad-like. The Third stage is more like, Mr. Turtle. Crush's less stellar dad.